1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image management apparatus and an image management method adapted to manage product information and digital image data owned by a user with a computer connected by using communication environments such as the Internet, as well as to a program and a storage medium therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is known a kind of information processing system (information providing service) utilizing communication infrastructure such as the Internet. The information processing system includes a server device on a network which provides a network service. The network service makes it possible for a user to upload image data photographed by the user using a digital camera to a storage area of the server device on the network, and to access the server device for browsing and printing the image data in a local environment when the user desires. A provider of the server device providing such network service is hereinafter referred to as “photosite”.
Further, there is provided a service in which a image-pickup device such as a camera and a printing device such as a printer, that are owned by the user, are registered as owned product information in the photosite, and thereby various information about the image-pickup device and the printing device is supplied from the side of photosite.
In the above described conventional techniques, it is possible for the user to register the user's products only when the user oneself accesses a registration screen and the like (see “CANON IMAGE GATEWAY new registration and registration model addition method”, <STEP 2: new registration and addition of registration model>, [online] Apr. 1, 2006, <Canon Marketing Japan, Inc.>, [retrieved on May 1, 2006], Internet <URL:http://www.imagegateway.net/entry/index.html>).
By acquiring much more information on the user's products, it is possible for the service providing side (photosite) to utilize the acquired information as the market information and the like. Further, it is also possible for the user receiving the service to receive much more useful information from the photosite by registering the user's products.
However, a system like the above described information processing system only allows the user to access the registration screen by the user's intention, and the user is required to manually input information necessary for the registration. This results in a problem that much time and labor are required for the input operation and hence many products cannot be registered.